Jenna De Rosnay - beyond any scoring system in this universe!

If you are too young to know who she is, Google her right now and enrich your life! If we had a modern version of her, the kiting business would collapse overnight and windsurfing would have a massive resurgence.

if all you guys can come up with is some "hot chick", you must be old horny buggers

windsurfing is STILL evolving and has had SO many good things - these are just examples:

universal joint was REQUIRED for windsurfing to function
this allowed for a mobile hand held sail
first boards seemed to be round bottomed - flat bottoms for speed later
wider boards for earlier planing
footstraps for jumping
chest harness so your arms don't get too long
later seat and waist harnesses
full battens for shape retention
cambers for even more shape
adjustable downhaul for adjustment on water - Barry still workin on one ??
adjustable outhaul for adjustment on the fly
hydrofoiling is the latest ?? inflatables and WindSUPs too ..
sail materials went from dacron, mylar to monofilm , scrim and now new dacron @ HSM
fins went from tiny US base to trimm, power and tuttle
mast bases went from filling the "hole(s)" to standard mast tracks
and extensions went from eyelets / grommets to pulleys and US / Euro connections
people use tools to downhaul - less stress on back n legs
etc
etc
etc
2 and 3 piece masts - when are they ALL gonna go to CC ? constant curve ??
RDM masts
cutouts in boards and sail boom area
North has ratchet system for downhaul
neoprene for the cold
ice windsurfing
land windsurfing

The "Baja Fog".
A drink popularized by the earliest windsurfers to frequent Punta San Carlos, Mex.
A beer with added tequila and a twist of lime which fogs the beer. Served best in the beer bottle, but you have to take a swig out of it first to make room for the tequila.
The best thing to cut thru salt water mouth.

Joe: "neoprene for the cold"
Neoprene goes back way farther than windsurfing, Neoprene was invented by DuPont scientists in 1930, originally under the name "Duprene", the first wetsuit was in 1951.

Windsurfing widows. 5/10


and 3 horses.

nag nag nag

The 'kanga cock' or the 'outboard motor fin' - hard to say which was better?

They might not be the best things in windsurfing history - though they show how far the sport has come !

Foots strap 9/10
Storm Sail 9/10
High wind daggerboard 5/10
"Wavejumper" 10/10
Bombora New Toy 3/10
Wild Winds anything 7/10

CNC machined fins transformed to mainstream surfing

the importance of sharp release rails transformed to mainstream surfing

windsurfing innovated that sh1t....

Hausey said..








They might not be the best things in windsurfing history - though they show how far the sport has come !

Nothing better than cruising along with the wobbly boom then the mast comes out of the track!

Thought I forgot about the early days!

Nobody's mentioned the GT31? Is the jury still out? I'll give it a provisional 5.5/10

monofilm

GPS's

The worst is far and away GPS.

The best, this forum along with the Flying Objects surf / seat harness.

Shorter boards of 230 cm have made a big difference to low end power and upwind.

Hydro foil...time will tell.

aribenasher said..
Surely the most significant change is the development of the shortboard in the early 1980s.

Without that none of the modern sport would be as it is.

The sub 9 foot /sub 8 foot and lightweight construction that is the biggest breakthrough of all.

Just as in surfing, I believe that "shortboard" revolution was invented by the Australians.

Was the first readily available "shorty" the Bombora Tri Fin ?
That was the first i remember, and the first i planed on that got me hooked !!
There was guys who had an Alpha Something as well, they were pretty cool

shoodbegood said..

aribenasher said..
Surely the most significant change is the development of the shortboard in the early 1980s.

Without that none of the modern sport would be as it is.

The sub 9 foot /sub 8 foot and lightweight construction that is the biggest breakthrough of all.

Just as in surfing, I believe that "shortboard" revolution was invented by the Australians.

Was the first readily available "shorty" the Bombora Tri Fin ?
That was the first i remember, and the first i planed on that got me hooked !!
There was guys who had an Alpha Something as well, they were pretty cool

I believe the story goes like this: "....Mark Paul took a short fat board to Maui one year [I submit this was 1981..]. Everyone was blown away by this board. Mike Waltze and others were all riding it. After the days sailing and a few beers on the hill at Hookipa they threw all their gear in the back of Mike's ute and headed home through the cane fields. They forgot to tie the board down and it blew out of Mike's ute and was lost in the cane fields. They searched to no avail. The next day still in a frenzy from the previous days sailing, they needed another board and quickly. Mike called Gerry Lopez and asked him if he had any old Guns lying around. He had a few pipe guns in the 7ft range. They put some mast tracks and footsraps on them and shortboard windsurfing was born. Now everyone was riding shortboards but much narrower than what Mark had designed that was lost in the canefields. This is the best exlaination of how shortboards evolved that I have heard from anybody. If there is a better explanation out there i would love to hear it?"

The above is quoted from another on sea breeze-"Fast Eddy" in around 2009,Posted 29/6/2009, 11:41 am inwww.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/General/The-Windsurfing-Movie-II/?page=2.

Assuming he is correct, it is possible, and open to fact check this and in support of that, I tender the following photograph of Mark Paul (circa 1980-81) with the short fat board, which I believe is the "sub" 6 foot pink, blue and orange thing on his immediate left. I submit that is similar to the one he took to Hawaii that year. The other shorter guy in the photo, on the right is I believe Scotty O'Connor:







Then also photographs at Steve Wilkings website of Mark Paul riding the 7 foot "pipeline" gun boards in 1981 at Hookipa. This corroborates the story.

For example, to wit photos of Mark Paul:








I believe you can purchase these and other photos (in full quality..) in all their glory at: www.stevewilkings.com

[I believe the "Alpha" boards were much later than the above.I know nothing about them and don't believe they rate as early runners]

The history above is somewhat like the Brewer McTavish rivalry over the shortboard in 1967 in Hawaii and the "Plastic Fantastic" 9 footer which Bob McTavish spun out on, but which blew minds.see "Going Vertical" movie


We should celebrate the above "windsurfing" shortboard story similarly..